IT Knowledgebase Articles

How can I stop Windows XP from showing Zipped files as folders? Windows XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is nice if you’ve got a fast machine or if you don’t have a registered version of a good archiving program (such as WinZip, WinRAR, WinACE and so on). On slower machines you can…

How to disable Local GPO processing in Windows Vista? Windows Vista has the ability to create multiple local group policies (GPOs). This means that whenever you want to configure different settings for different users you can do so easily . You can read more about LGPOs on my Understanding Multiple Local GPOs in Windows Vista…

How can I disable Fast User Switching in Windows XP Pro? To turn Fast User Switching on or off: You must have a computer administrator account on a computer that is a member of a workgroup or is a stand-alone computer to turn on or turn off the User Fast User Switching feature. Fast User…

How can I disable the Error Reporting feature in Windows XP or Windows Server 2003? One of the new features of Windows XP and in Windows Server 2003 is the error reporting feature that offers to send diagnostic information to Microsoft whenever an application or part of the system crashes. There are a number of…

How can I disable EFS on Computers Running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003? The following procedure will show you how to use Group Policy to disable EFS on computers running Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Open the GPO that you want to edit. You can use Active Directory Users and Computers or the…

Windows 2000 introduced the concept of dynamic disks, which let you implement RAID-type disk configurations (e.g., disk mirroring, fault-tolerant striping) and make disk and volume changes without rebooting. Although Microsoft doesn’t support dynamic disks on most laptops, you can enable a dynamic disk on your laptop. Alternatively, you might want to prevent users from upgrading…

How can I disable the Desktop Cleanup Wizard? In Windows XP Pro, the Desktop Cleanup Wizard automatically runs every 60 days and tries to help the user in maintaining a clean and uncluttered desktop. While good in nature, this feature could be quite annoying for those of us who do know what they want and…

How do I remove the CD Recording feature in Windows XP? I cannot imagine why anyone will want to do that but… Do this if you must: Start – Run – type gpedit.msc (not available in Windows XP Home Edition). Go to User Configuration – Administrative Templates – Windows Explorer. Look for "Remove CD Burning…

How can I disable the balloon tips in Windows XP? Whenever you connect or disconnect from the network in Windows XP a small yellow pop-up balloon is displayed near the notification area (tray). You can tweak XP and disable that feature: Warning! This document contains instructions for editing the registry. If you make any error…

How can I disable the annoying balloon messages in Windows XP? Windows XP tries its best to help the user figure out things. One silly methods it tries to do so is through the annoying yellow balloon pop-up messages near the tray area. To stop the annoying balloon messages follow these steps: Open Registry Editor….